Our voting system in California, like most in the nation, is predicated on an antiquated notion.

It assumes that on Election Day we walk to the neighborhood polling place — perhaps a school, a fire station, a church or nearby garage — wait in line to sign a register, step into a little canvas and wood-framed booth, then mark our ballots.

For most people those days are long gone. Only 31 percent of eligible Californians actually cast ballots in November, a record low for a general election. Of those who did vote, a record low 39 percent actually went to the polls while most mailed in their ballots. In other words, only 12 percent of those eligible actually voted the old-fashioned way.

“We’re operating in the 21st century with basically a 19th century voting model,” says Joe Canciamilla, Contra Costa’s elections chief.

Each election, registrars in each major county across the state must still find thousands of volunteers to staff hundreds of neighborhood polling locations. On a per-vote basis, the cost has steadily increased.

It’s time to rethink how we vote in California.

“The current model is just not sustainable,” says Secretary of State Alex Padilla. His alternative, unveiled Wednesday, holds great potential.

Padilla advocates a voter-friendly model similar to the one recently launched in Colorado, where election costs decreased and turnout rose. There, all registered voters receive ballots in the mail. They can mail them back or drop them off.

In Denver, 95 percent of voters use the ballot that’s mailed to them. Surprisingly, though, only 28 percent return them through the Postal Service. That’s probably because Colorado’s voting system provides so many convenient drop-off alternatives, many available for weeks leading up to Election Day.

Voters can use 24-hour lockboxes set up with video surveillance at public locations like transit hubs and recreation centers. Denver has 24 such locations around the city. Or, voters can take their ballots to “vote centers” staffed by election workers, where they can use the drive-up alternative or go inside.

Here’s a key cost-saving: Denver replaced about 150 old-fashioned polling locations with about 25 vote centers. Voters can drop their ballots off at any center in their county. Those who lose or damage their ballots can go to one of the centers for a replacement. So can those who need assistance because of disabilities or just want that polling-booth experience.

When it comes to elections, change happens slowly. It’s been more than 14 years since the Bush v. Gore debacle in Florida that injected “hanging chad” into the national lexicon. For years, many election officials focused on new machines, often promoted by vendors who were more than happy to profit from the anxiety caused by the 2000 election.

The touch-screen systems, in particular, were fraught with security issues. Ironically, the need for them declined as more voters cast paper ballots from their living rooms. Rather than focus on how we mark our ballots in California, Padilla wants to make it more convenient to receive and return them.

Implementation of his plan will be tricky because it requires technology improvements. To make it possible to cast ballots at any vote center in a county, California needs to complete a statewide database that poll workers can check to determine if someone is registered and ensure he or she hasn’t already voted elsewhere. The state will begin testing the system in July.

Similarly, each center will need access to hundreds of different ballot configurations to account for each voter’s particular city council, school board and water district races, for example. While the technology exists for election officials to print individual ballots to order, only a small portion of California’s 58 counties use it.

I’ve long advocated for a system like Oregon’s in which everyone votes by mail. But Tim DuPuis, Alameda County’s election chief, notes that, however small, “there’s still a very strong culture that enjoys going to the polling location as well.”

For that reason, Colorado’s system has more potential, if we can overcome the technology challenges, because it addresses concerns of those who don’t trust the postal service or still want to be closer to the electoral process than a mailbox.

Dan Borenstein is an award-winning columnist for the Bay Area News Group and editorial page editor of the East Bay Times. He has worked for the Times and its affiliated newspapers since 1980, including previous assignments as political editor, Sacramento bureau editor, projects editor and assistant metro editor. A Bay Area native, he holds master’s degrees in public policy and journalism from University of California, Berkeley.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said there was nothing wrong with the officials expressing “private political views via private text messages.” Strzok, in particular, “did not say anything about Donald Trump that the majority of Americans weren’t also thinking at the same time,” he said.